Please help me get my Feed the Kids Bill to Select Committee

Last week I took over the Feed the Kids Bill that Hone Harawira had introduced to Parliament. If passed, my Bill will provide government-funded breakfast and lunch in all decile 1 and 2 schools.

Hungry kids can’t learn and are left trapped in the poverty cycle when they grow up. Let’s break that cycle, lunchbox by lunch box. We can feed the country’s hungry kids, if we work together.

My Bill is at a crucial stage of its progress – part way through its First Reading – and may be voted on as early as next Wednesday 5 November.

The way the numbers stack up in the new Parliament the Bill will be voted down unless we can persuade the National Party to change its position and support it going to Select Committee. National have been talking a lot about child poverty since the election, and supporting my Bill is one way they can start to address it.

You can help me persuade the Prime Minister to let the public have a say on this important issue by emailing John Key, asking that National support my Bill at least to Select Committee. We need to broaden and build the public debate on addressing child poverty, and submissions on this Bill to a Select Committee will help achieve this.

Because of the potentially short timeframe, you’ll need to send your emails as soon as possible and before Monday 3 November at the latest.

Great that you’re promoting this Bill, Metiria. Despite their latest rhetoric, it’s probably too much to expect a National Government to introduce measures that actually reduce child poverty. But surely they must be able to be persuaded to support initiatives such as this that mitigate it, if only to dispel the perception that it’s an issue they don’t care about.

I’ve sent my email off to the PM. Will be interesting to see what response I get.